Whispering Woods Braille Trail Dedication Speech

Welcome

Ladies and Gentlemen and distinguished individuals of our region and state,

Welcome to the Dedication Ceremony for the Whispering Woods Braille Trail! I am honored to share this experience with you. My name is Evan Barnard. Many of you know me, though few of you have heard my full story of why we are here today and what comes next.

Five years ago on a ferry ride, I introduced myself to a man wearing a Nature Conservancy nametag, asking how I could get involved with conservation. He suggested working in a Nature Conservancy forest on a Braille trail. A Braille trail is a nature trail with Braille signage and guide ropes so the visually impaired can access the trail. The trail needed a lot of work. All 15 aluminum Braille signs had been stolen. Who would vandalize a Braille trail? Determined to make the trail useable again, I installed new plastic Braille signs and cleaned up the trail. Unfortunately, the trail was vandalized again and guide ropes were stolen, which I replaced and cleared the trail. I then went to a meeting of the Rome Chapter of the Georgia Council of the Blind to encourage members to use the trail. I found myself surrounded by a wonderful and kind group of people I realized that these amazing people had extremely limited access to the outdoors, and wanted to create opportunities for more visually impaired adults and kids to enjoy and learn about nature.

For several years, I worked to promote the Braille trail and advocate that nature should be accessible to all, no matter what disability one may have. I worked closely with the Georgia Council of the Blind and similar groups, presented at a GCB State meeting, and spoke on the Georgia Reading Radio Service show "Eye on Blindness" about the Braille Trail and the importance of creating opportunities for the visually impaired to go outside and enjoy nature. Information about the trail was posted on the International Braille blog, and I received emails from all over the country from visually impaired people about trails in their communities or how much they would like to have one nearby that they could enjoy. I also organized and led a trail hike for 25 visually impaired people on the Big Pine Braille Trail. This experience made me realize that more visually impaired people need better access to the outdoors. To improve their accessibility, I decided to build more Braille trails.

After being awarded a grant from Disney Friends for Change to help build a trail and purchase Braille signs, I began my search for a great trail location, and eventually I contacted Mr. Canon to see if the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center would be interested. He thought a Braille trail would be a great addition to the Center. On Global Youth Service Day, I organized and led student volunteers from my school to start designing the trail and work on creating Braille sign stations.

I held multiple volunteer work days to clear the trail path, install posts and string guide rope with support and donations from businesses and the community. It was important that members of the visually impaired community be part of designing the trail. After I wrote the Braille signs, GCB members, led by student volunteers, experienced the sign stations and gave feedback.

The trail is named the Whispering Woods Braille Trail for the many different types of trees lining the path. All the signs include information in Braille and print, and are designed to give sensory and identification information as visitors experience the trail, such as the species of trees and birds they will encounter, and even how the different trees were used by Native Americans. Everyone, visually impaired or not, can use the signs and learn about the forest and nature. Then I received a grant from Radio Disney Heroes for Change to help purchase the Braille signs. The signs were finally made and installed, so the trail was complete.

With a grant received for the Summer of Service Award, the Braille Trail will be hosting educational programs and events for groups to get together to use the trail, including special events for kids. With a grant from National Child Awareness Month, I have founded a new organization named Nature for All, and am organizing an event for kids with visual impairments and other disabilities to be guided by youth volunteers on the trail for this year’s Global Youth Service Day. I am using this trail as a prototype to build Braille trails across the U.S. by taking existing nature trails and configuring them for accessibility for the visually impaired and other people with disabilities. I am also working with legislators to support this project and increase funding for programs for the visually impaired and others to those with disabilities.

This is what I am hoping to do with Braille Nature Trails. We can take existing nature trails and configure them to be accessible to the visually impaired and other people with disabilities, bringing nature into their lives. The smell of the forest, the chirping of crickets, and touch of ridged bark are sensory experiences that we can all enjoy. We can use our resources and volunteer our time to find ways to bring the beauty of the outdoors to people who are not able to venture freely outside. We need to be creative and resourceful to create long-lasting change.

Access to nature for people who are visually impaired or have other disabilities is something we can all strive to accommodate. Making opportunities like walking on a Nature Trail accessible is a way to remove barriers between those with disabilities and the natural world outside. Shouldn’t we all be able to experience nature?

Thank you.

Acknowledgements

This Braille Trail was made possible with support from many people. I would like to acknowledge some of the people who made this possible.

Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage CenterFirst and foremost, the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center has helped me all along the way. The Center allowed me to construct this trail by transforming one of their own preexisting trails into a nature trail accessible to the visually impaired. Staff have assisted me and my volunteers on multiple work days and even worked on leveling a new trail section. The Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center has truly made it possible for this trail to exist.

Georgia Council of the BlindI have been working with the Georgia Council of the Blind for several years now. They have been so supportive of my endeavors, and their input regarding the sign content was invaluable.

The Home DepotIt would be quite difficult to express my immense gratitude toward the Home Depot. I have been working with the Home Depot for years on this project, and each store and employee I have worked with has been exceedingly helpful. The Home Depot donated all 75 posts to support the guide rope and signs, all the concrete to stabilize those posts, the sign platforms, and any hardware as well. Not only did the Home Depot donate everything on the trail but the signs and guide rope, employees from the local Buford Home Depot came out to the trail on multiple occasions to operate the machinery for the post installation and later to install the sign platforms and signs. I could not have designed and built the trail without the Home Depot.

BlueWater RopesBlueWater Ropes donated all of the high-quality climbing rope for this trail. There is over a thousand feet of guide rope along this trail, so the donation was very significant and appreciated.

Student volunteers from Johns Creek High SchoolNext I would like to thank the student volunteers from my high school, which is Johns Creek High School. Many attended the two Global Youth Service Day projects and assisted when members of the Georgia Council of the Blind came out to the trail this past October to contribute to the sign content and test out the trail. These volunteers are such eager young individuals, and their efforts were greatly appreciated.

The Nature ConservancyIf it were not for the Nature Conservancy, we probably wouldn’t be here right now. The story of what inspired me to build this trail begins with my work on the Big Pine Braille Trail up in Rome, Georgia in the Nature Conservancy’s Marshall Forest, working to repair the vandalized trail in 2010 with my mentor. That mentor, Mr. Malcolm Hodges of the Nature Conservancy, unfortunately could not be here today, but he has been so supportive all along the way, especially in the identification of trees along this trail.

Global Youth Service DayGlobal Youth Service Day is an annual youth service event during which young people around the world try to create positive change in their local communities, on a global scale, or somewhere in between. I am honored to have led two Global Youth Service Day projects here at this trail, the first of which marking the official beginning of this trail’s construction.

AGCOAGCO cleared a new section of the trail. When I first came to the trail a few years ago, the preexisting trail did not form a loop, but because the AGCO volunteers cleared that new trail section, people utilizing this trail will not have to turn around in order to exit the trail.

Signs PDQI would like to thank Signs PDQ for its diligence in creating the 18 Braille and print signs that are now along the trail. I would also like to express my gratitude for Signs PDQ’s accommodating to my project budget.In fact, for all of the posts, sign platforms, concrete, hardware, guide rope, and signs along the trail, the total cost of the trail materials not accounted for by in-kind donations was only approximately $3,000, thanks my wonderful donors.

Youth Service AmericaFinally, I would like to give an enormous thank you to Youth Service America. Youth Service America oversees Global Youth Service Day, and is involved with the three grants I have received – Disney Friends for Change, Radio Disney Heroes for Change, and Summer of Service – as well as the National Child Awareness Month Youth Ambassador program. As this year’s Ambassador for Georgia, I had the chance to discuss my project on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Youth Service America has allowed me to begin and follow through with the construction of this trail and reach a broader audience in my advocacy for increasing access to nature for everyone, regardless of physical impairment or otherwise.

Thank you.

Dedication

We have now come to the most significant portion of this ceremony. I’m sure you are all wondering to whom this trail is dedicated.

This trail is dedicated not to an individual, but to a group of individuals with which I have become well-acquainted. This group has faced obstacles, but few that it cannot overcome. These group forms its own unique community that is not on its own in its prevailing success, but rather part of a larger network comprised of components held together by the shared desire to make a difference, often when the odds are not in their favor. This trail, the Whispering Woods Braille Trail, is formally dedicated to the Georgia Council of the Blind.

I would like to recognize a few special individuals who really made a difference for this project. Ms. Amanda Wilson, who is not able to be with us today, is the president of the Rome/Floyd County Chapter of GCB. She has been there since my very first attendance at a GCB chapter meeting. That first meeting, as a twelve-year-old, I actually had zero public speaking experience, but the Rome/Floyd County chapter could not have been more receptive of my short address, and presence, and after attending a few more of their meetings and a few years later, Ms. Wilson still passes on information I send her way to many other GCB members.

I have known Mrs. Farrow since that first meeting as well. She has helped me in numerous ways over the past few years. With her wealth of contacts, she helped me find a location for this new trail and linked me to many other people.

Mr. Brent Reynolds, previous president of the South Metro-Atlanta Chapter of GCB, was instrumental in coordinating his chapter’s visit to the trail this past October, rallying up members to attend and having a particularly positive outlook on the situation.

Mrs. Annie Maxwell, a Braille instructor at the Center for the Visually Impaired. She ought to acknowledge solely for her youthful spirit, but she has actually been a great advisor throughout the completion of the trail and a persistent supporter of the project.

If I had to choose only one word to describe the members of GCB, that word would be persistent. They always persevere through their daily lives, with the odds stacked against them. This Braille nature trail is dedicated to the GCB because of its empowering model of kinship. The trail was built for and by its members. Everyone, let’s give a round of applause to the Georgia Council of the Blind!